1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tagging machine, and particularly to a portable tagging machine which can be operated by one hand for successively fastening or stapling printed price tags, or the like, to commodities such as articles of clothing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Price or other information has been conventionally applied to commodities by a portable labeling machine (or a hand operated labeler), which uses labels that are applied on a continuous strip of backing paper. Since the back faces of these labels are coated with an adhesive, their major application is in the indication of prices upon foodstuffs or articles of daily use, and their major use is in supermarkets, or the like. However, these labels cannot be used on commodities that may react chemically with the adhesive and, for example, become discolored or on commodities that may be soiled with dust, or the like that often sticks to the adhesive left on the garments after removal of the labels.
Conventional tagging methods for articles of clothing comprise using price tags which have no adhesive applied to their back faces. One common tagging method uses hand-sewn tags that are manually attached one by one to the articles. Another tagging method uses a special hand operated device to fasten the tags one by one to the articles by means of expensive plastic filaments. A third method employs a stationary, power operated tagging machine to pin the tags to the articles. One disadvantage of those conventional methods is that the printing of individual tags and the fastening of the tags to the articles to be tagged are carried out independently and manually and thus with reduced efficiency. For the power operated stationary tagging machine, another disadvantage is that the printing and fastening operations require that the articles to be tagged be brought to the place where the machine is installed.
The conventional tagging methods are not as satisfactory as a tagging method using a portable labeling machine, which can be operated by one hand of an operator. Such machines are in use in food stores. While holding a foodstuff, or the like, with one of his hands, the operator can accomplish both the printing of the labels and their attachment to the foodstuff, and this can be done either at a counter where commodities are displayed or anywhere else.
Thus, the invention relates to a portable tagging machine which can attach printed tags to articles of clothing or other staple receiving commodities by means of staples. This portable tagging machine includes a printing mechanism, a tag feed mechanism, a tag stapling mechanism and a grip and hand lever combination for operating all of the foregoing, all of which are mounted in a machine casing. The printing and tagging operations can be carried out by means of the grip and the hand lever of the machine being simply gripped and released by one hand of an operator. Thus, the two operations of printing and tagging can be performed by means of a single action at any place, such as a clothing counter where articles of clothing are displayed.
After actual use, however, I have found several points to be improved. First, the machine casing becomes clogged with the tags. Even after a tag is fastened to an article of clothing, the staple enclosure of the stapling mechanism may not descend promptly. Thus, the rest of the continuous strip of tags will have started its advance although the tagged article and the remaining tags are still pinched between the leading end of the staple enclosure and the staple bending or clinching member.
A second point needing improvement is the undesirable untimely shifting of the continuous tag strip because there is no mechanism which can reliably hold the tag strip in position. As a result, the tag strip cannot be fed correctly. It may even be retracted by the feed pawl as the pawl is being carried back. Likewise, when a tagged article is being taken out of the tagging machine, the trailing tag strip may be pulled out by the tagged article. This is often experienced when the tag has its rear edge incompletely separated from the leading edge of the trailing tag strip.
A third point needing improvement results from the undesirable, unpredictable shifting of the continuous tag strip. This shifting may even occur during the printing operation, whereby it is often impossible to obtain desirably clear printing.